Flying Defense is a mix between a castle defense game and Angry Birds in that the gamer must fling their soldiers out of a cannon and hit oncoming monsters. The enemies aren't really monsters in the Halloween ghoul sense, they're more like flies on steroids with red eyes. They look quite menacing.

At its core, Flying Defense is a bold attempt at creating an interactive gaming experience that puts the player in the role of commander and conquerer with the goal of systematically taking down the flying attackers while en route to taking over the gamer's castle. However, if speedy gameplay is something the gamer enjoys, they shouldn't expect much fun from this game. It is all about strategy and the slow gameplay is essential for figuring out how the soldiers fly and at what angles to toss them at to take out the most enemies.

The game mechanics are quite simple. The game starts out with three available soldiers that run out to the end of what looks like a plank. One at a time they jump into the cannon and the gamer must pull back, aim and then fire said soldier towards the flying menaces. As in life, all soldiers are not created equally. This is also one of the reasons I believe the developers made the gameplay a bit slower.

The first three soldiers available include short and squatty, but very speedy, tall and skinny and a tad slower and average height and very hefty which causes them to not fly very far. The only problem is that there is no choice to pick who is flicked at the enemies. It's one right after the other. This presents another strategic element to overcome.

After they are thrown, they have to walk all the way back to the cannon to be thrown again. For the short and fast character this is no problem, but for the other two it is as they walk slower. To help, there is assistance available from power ups - including fast shoes for faster walking, snow to freeze the enemies in their tracks and lighting to slow them down as well.

Soldiers and items such as speed boosts can be purchased with gold coins. If the gamer is out of coins they can purchase them in-app ranging in price from $.99 to $9.99.

I was initially interested in this game for its unique take on the castle defense genre, but its slow gameplay kept me from truly being immersed in the experience. However, after a few turns at progressing through the game I enjoyed testing out new strategies to take out the flying enemies. Maybe a future update will up the pace of the game, but for now, the game is free and I recommend taking it for a spin.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

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